Title: From Here On Out
Author: AoiTsukikage
Rating: R-ish
Characters/Pairing: ZoSan, other secondary pairings
Chapters: 6/?
Word Count: 3086
Summary: Sequel to 'This Is Your Life.' Sanji had thought that balancing real life and working to take down a new crime boss would be easier the second time around. He was wrong. Modern!AU, ZoSan primarily, other secondary pairings.
Chapter Six
Sanji woke up to the morning sun shining in his eyes and the sounds of somebody puttering around the kitchen, and he pushed himself off of Zoro's chest (since the other man was still fast asleep, of course) before making his way over.
"You know, you could just ask if you're hungry," he said simply and Law turned, nearly smacking his head on the cupboard he'd been digging around in.
"Sorry. Didn't want to wake you," he stood up to his full height and Sanji noted that he looked a lot better than the night before. He'd finally removed his hooded shirt and was just wearing a low-necked t-shirt, and Sanji tried to keep from staring at the curls of ink that were visible over his collarbones. Law was usually so covered up despite apparently having more tattoos than anybody knew about.
Law, of course, was far too perceptive not to notice and looked down before smiling. "Oh. Yeah. I'd show you but I wouldn't want Mr. Roronoa to think I was coming onto you by stripping in your kitchen," he looked knowingly at Sanji, who snorted.
"He wouldn't think anything of it. One thing about Zoro I'll never understand is that he has absolutely no regard for decency. He'd probably be fine with everybody walking around naked all the time, not because he's a pervert, but because he honestly doesn't seem to put much stock in physical beauty," he sniffed and leaned back on the counter.
"He must have eyes, at least, since he's with you," Law was back to digging in the cupboard and Sanji couldn't stop the blush that came with that compliment even though he knew it was innocent. Especially coming from somebody that looked like Law, and while Sanji had to admit that he wasn't huge into the whole bad-boy thing (yes, okay, Ace had a tattoo and Zoro had earrings but it wasn't the same thing), you'd have to be blind not to think he was hot.
"Are you looking for anything in particular?" Sanji asked then, because while it rather amusing to watch the other man going through his kitchen, he did like to keep a sense of order and Law was kind of disrupting that at the moment.
"Food?" the older man asked hopefully and Sanji tugged him away from the cupboard and started getting supplies out.
"You like oatmeal? Homemade stuff, not the packaged shit," he added and Law shrugged and nodded. "Good, because that's what I'm making," he went to grab a pot, knowing that if the clanking didn't wake Zoro the smell would as soon as he turned on the stove, and once he'd gotten everything started he looked back at Law. "So. This psychic friend of yours have any other clues to give you?"
"It's hard to tell with Mr. Hawkins. He's always deliberately vague, but apart from making it seem as if it were one of us, the only other thing he referenced was 'fire'. That could mean anything, though," he leaned back against the counter and Sanji pursed his lips and thought about it.
"Yeah. I mean, I'm a chef so I'm always working with fire, Ace has kinda got an obsession with it and..." he paused, still thinking, and Law tilted his head to the side and supplied.
"His boyfriend?"
"Phoenix," Sanji replied slowly. "Phoenixes are reborn in fire. But that…"
"So you should probably avoid doing anything dangerous with Mr. Portgas and Mr. Marco in the next week. Like I said, I don't know if that's what Mr. Hawkins was talking about, but it's as good a guess as any," he looked remarkably unconcerned and Sanji didn't think anything of it before suddenly it struck him.
"Hey, wait, boyfriend?"
"I have eyes too, Mr. Blackleg, and even though I only saw them interact briefly it was obvious. I'm right, aren't I?" he was smirking as if he already knew he was, and Sanji figured he didn't need to answer.
"Marco still doesn't trust you," he said instead, and Law laughed outright at that one.
"He's right not to," he looked unfazed by this. "Sometimes alliances only work because of a good deal of distrust between the people involved. It usually causes less mistakes if you're cautious, and both he and I have been doing this long enough to know that trusting too easily can be your downfall. And sometimes, well, sometimes trust is a thing to be broken," he spoke the last almost quietly and Sanji debated asking whose trust he'd broken, or who'd broken his, but had to stop himself again.
Zoro decided to show up after that, stomping into the kitchen and yawning as he looked at Sanji and then at Law. "Hey, man. Good to see you."
"Likewise, Mr. Roronoa," Law replied with a short incline of his head. "Your boyfriend's apparently trying to nurse me back to health, something I keep telling him I don't need because…"
"You're a doctor, yeah, I know," Sanji left the pot for a moment and got some bowls out, setting them beside the stove and directing Zoro to put the milk and brown sugar on the table (Zoro could handle that much, at least, even if he was hopeless at using any cooking appliance more sophisticated than a microwave on a regular basis). "Speaking of that, you know Kid gave me your address?"
"I asked him to," Law said. "My home is fairly innocuous and I've got more room than I need, so if anything happens and you need a safe place for somebody to spend a few days or a week recuperating in, it's probably the best option."
"Thanks," Sanji nodded to him before turning back to the stove, taking the pot off once the oatmeal was done and putting it on table. "Well, dig in, boys."
Zoro, of course, needed no prompting, but Law was a lot, well, calmer about getting his own food, and he seemed to be lost in thought as they ate until Sanji cleared his throat.
"So. Trust. Is that a way of telling me it was stupid to let you sleep in our house?" he meant for it to come out flippant but it came out a lot more hesitant than that, although Law's response was to chuckle softly.
"No. Distrust can be useful, but actual trust isn't a bad thing to have. You can trust me, Sanji," he said, and the use of Sanji's first name told him more than anything that Law was being utterly serious.
"I know," Sanji eventually said. "I guess I've never had to experience that kind of betrayal so I don't know how it feels."
"You'll learn," Law said it in a way that pretty much told Sanji he had personal experience in the matter. And it wasn't as if Sanji was naturally trusting, but maybe he'd been lucky in that even the people that claimed to work for the other side always ended up assisting him. He wasn't sure what that said about him, but it wasn't a bad thing, in any case.
Besides, if anybody ever truly double-crossed them, he'd kick their ass, no matter how much he might like them.
Still, he had to admit the thought of somebody he trusted implicitly turning on him wasn't a pleasant one (hell, it had been hard enough with Kaku and his constant flip-flopping between government assassin and the rather nice guy he was on a regular basis) and he hoped that he'd never have to go through it himself.
000
"You're worried he's going to hurt himself."
"It's stupid, I know," Zoro crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, pursing his lips because Robin was fucking psychic or something and could always see right through him.
"It's not stupid," Usopp shook his head firmly, hands wrapped around a cup of coffee. He and Zoro had met up after class since they had a break at the same time, and Robin had just happened to be at the University dropping off some materials for the history department so she'd joined them in the coffee shop.
"It is, though," Zoro sighed, trying to figure out the best way to word this. "I mean, whenever we argue about something like this it always turns into this big…thing, and I don't want to fight with him," he was honestly amazed that he and Sanji didn't fight that often anymore, especially since back in high school the only thing they ever seemed to be able to say to each other were insults.
"Then don't," Robin made it sound so easy. "You trust him, and he trusts you, so what is it that's worrying you so much this time?"
"I guess just that…I mean, I agreed to this. Not that he wouldn't have done it anyway, because he's a stubborn bastard, but I feel like if I even bring it up he'll think that I'm saying he can't take care of himself," he frowned because he was really shitty at talking about feelings, but Robin nodded in understanding regardless.
"I know, Zoro. Remember, last time I was stuck outside the building while the rest of you were in there fighting, and while sometimes you can be just as effective from the sidelines, it often feels like you're doing nothing," as always, she knew exactly what he was feeling, but by now instead of it freaking him out he was kind of grateful.
"There's something else, isn't there?" Usopp could be weirdly perceptive when he wanted to be as well, and it seemed like today was one of those times. "I mean, this would have been a worry since the beginning, but there's something else that's worrying you right now," he emphasized.
Zoro sighed and shrugged, deciding that trying to bluff his way out of it would be useless, and explained about Law and Hawkins and the warning. Sanji had told him about everything after Law had gone home or…wherever he'd disappeared to, and Zoro had taken it in stride outwardly although it had started a churning anxiety in his stomach he couldn't quite make sense of. He tried to brush it off as just normal overprotective worry, but by the look on Robin's face after he was done speaking she definitely seemed concerned (which might have been the most telling thing of all, since Robin was too good at masking her emotions normally).
"So you're worried he's going to walk unwittingly into danger," she looked thoughtful. "It's always a possibility, I suppose."
"I don't wanna smother him this week, but I also don't want to take a chance on anything bad happening," Zoro's fingers flexed unconsciously, reaching for swords that weren't there, and God, he really needed to either get in a fight or have a decent training session soon, although there was still nobody that would train with him and Kaku was being stubborn about 'over-exerting himself' when Zoro knew that was bullshit.
A little voice in the back of his head told him that he could always ask Mihawk, but there was something about his pride that wouldn't let him do that yet.
"Look, Zoro, I don't wanna tell you you're worrying for nothing because coming from me that'd be kind of hypocritical, but do you really think Sanji's gonna forget something as ominous as a…a death warning?" Usopp's voice got progressively higher and more distressed as he spoke but, well, he had a valid point.
"Nah, you're right, he'll be fine," Zoro grinned and tried not to think about why he didn't believe his own words. Or why, when his eyes met Robin's, she didn't look like she believed them, either.
000
"We should walk! It's nice out," Ace spread his arms and twirled around in a circle, grinning as he stared up at the sky and the rare snow falling. It wasn't enough that it would build up at all, and the air wasn't freezing, but Sanji didn't think anybody else would call it 'nice' when it was snowing in the first place.
Ace was just exceptionally warm-blooded. Or something.
"Ace, it's snowing!" Marco held out a hand and then dropped it with a sigh, knowing well enough by now that there was no reasoning with Ace when he got his mind to something.
"It's not far," Sanji dug in his pocket for a cigarette and lit it, something about the action niggling at his memory but he dismissed it. They weren't looking for trouble, after all, and he highly doubted anything would happen in the few blocks between the restaurant and Shanks' bar. He hadn't said anything about the warning to the other two guys, mostly because he figured Marco would go super-overprotective, but quite frankly he'd had enough of being coddled and guarded after the whole thing with Krieg.
This time, if everything went to shit, he was going to face it head-on instead of letting somebody nearly die for him.
"Well, lead on," Marco gestured and Sanji hopped off the sidewalk, sprinting across the street to where Ace was trying to catch snowflakes with his tongue. Sometimes it was kind of hard to believe he wasn't related to Luffy, honestly.
"Are we going?" Ace looked up, grinning, and they moved across the plaza together, Ace always running ahead a few steps before waiting impatiently for the other two to catch up. The streets were mostly deserted so late at night, both because of the hour and the weather, but a rather loud 'crunch' of heavy boots on the fresh snow from the other side of the open area had Sanji slowing to a halt, his heart beating a little faster.
It was stupid to worry, he knew it was. Nothing bad was going to happen, psychic premonition or not. God, he sounded like Usopp, worrying about the tiniest things.
"What's wrong?" Marco, of course, picked up on his hesitation and walked forward a few steps.
A man darted out from between the buildings, rather large and stout and tottering along in an ungainly fashion before disappearing into an alleyway. Barely ten seconds passed before another man followed him, slimmer but still broad-shouldered, and Ace put a hand on Sanji's arm and hissed, "That was Akainu."
"Are you sure?" Sanji had a bad, bad feeling about this now.
"Yeah. But I dunno who he's chasing…"
"Blackbeard," Marco nearly spat the name and okay, there was obviously a story there even though now wasn't the time to hear it. "I'd recognize the way he walked anywhere."
"We should go…" Sanji started but Ace was already sneaking off toward the alley entrance. "Ace, I'm serious, we're supposed to let the Admirals be…"
"This'll only take a second, I just wanna see what they're up to," Ace was through the narrow entrance before Sanji could think to physically restrain him (not that he probably would have had any luck with that regardless, but damn it, he could have tried!) and he followed as quickly as he dared, hearing Marco's footsteps behind him.
The alley was narrow, barely enough room for one person to pass through by themselves, but it branched off a few feet down the way and Sanji cursed under his breath. "Should we each take a path?" Marco still sounded impassive, but his posture was tense and Sanji knew he could probably sense something was off even not knowing about Hawkins' warning.
"Yeah," Sanji darted right, sprinting through the constricting passage and keeping his eyes peeled for any movement, but by the time he reached a dead end leading into some sort of shop he'd encountered nobody. He sighed and turned back around, resigned to going back and hoping that Akainu and Blackbeard had just…gone through a path that they hadn't seen, when the ground shook beneath his feet and a pillar of flame shot up into the night sky.
"Shit!" he didn't care if he startled anybody with that yell, because fire fire fire beware of fire and he was running faster than he ever had before, vaulting over a pile of rubble as he neared the split in the path they'd come to the first time.
The air was thick with smoke now and he could hear sirens in the distance, lights starting to pop on in the buildings surrounding him. He'd barely passed through the way Marco had gone when he saw a figure through the swirling red-tinged smoke. "Phoenix…" he whispered, knowing it was stupid, but damn if Marco didn't look like some sort of mythical creature backlit by the light from the explosion, tall and imposing and completely unharmed even with the flames nearly licking his sleeves.
Which was more than could be said for the man he was holding in his arms, and Sanji swallowed down the wave of fear and shock and not-again-oh-God-not-again as he asked, "Is he…"
"Alive. He must have come across the trap and…I don't know if he triggered it, but he was trying to get away," Sanji could see that the back of Ace's jacket and shirt were nearly singed right off, and from the red running down Marco's arms he had a feeling it wasn't pretty underneath the charred fabric. "He needs help, Sanji."
"Right. Yeah," part of Sanji wondered how Marco could be so calm, but another reminded him that you didn't get a reputation like he had without going through some serious shit, so maybe he was just more used to this. "My car's…it's just back at the restaurant…"
"Let's go. Before the police show up," Marco tightened his grip on Ace and Sanji could see the concern in his eyes as he looked down at the younger man, but right now getting Ace help was more important than anything and as they ran Sanji could almost feel his phone burning a hole in his pocket as a rather helpful reminder about where they needed to go. "Are we taking him to those friends of yours?"
"A friend, yeah," Sanji skidded to a halt beside his car and threw the door open, trying to regulate his breathing so he could drive without putting them in more danger.
Thank God Ace was unconscious, at least, so he couldn't feel anything right now.
"What is it?" Marco must have sensed his hesitation and Sanji gripped the wheel tightly, roaring out of the parkade and onto the road.
"You're not gonna like who I'm taking you to. But he's the best chance we've got."
A/N: Don't hurt me